jesusfreak2016

I know. Crazy blog title. It is 2016, after all. You’d probably have to dig deep in Haight-Ashbury to find folks who still refer to themselves as “Jesus freaks.” Not counting the song by the same name recorded in 1995 by the DC Boys and re-recorded in 2010 by the Newsboys. I kind of like that line, “What will people think when they hear that I’m a Jesus freak?”

In case you’re worried (because you know me or might think you don’t want to), I do not stand on street corners with a bullhorn and shout out prophecies about what’s going to happen if we don’t straighten up and fly right. Not to say that there aren’t people called to do that; I’m just not one of them. I do love God. I’m just a little weird about how I preach that. Okay, I’m just a little weird. Period.

My children both have blogs, and my daughter has encouraged me to start my own so I will stop posting tomes on Facebook. I’m not as clever a writer as my daughter nor as passionate a writer as my son, but I have things to say. Funny, I can’t think of a single thing right now. But if you prove to be a reader of jesusfreak, hopefully, you will find something funny or inspiring or thought-provoking. Eventually.

To say 2015 and the short time 2016 has been around have been full of big transitions in my life is laughable to me. Euphemisms aside, it’s been a grinder. I have been miraculously and generously shielded from all kinds of loss in life, but I got my share in 2015, and 2016 promises to continue to school me in ways of death and grief that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the physical. There have been many unpleasant changes or events in my life that had everything to do with my personal choices. If I’m in the middle of how this stuff came about, for the life of me, I can’t figure it out. The odd thing is that, even though some of these events are devastating on an emotional level, God has surrounded me with a spiritual peace I’ve never experienced before even on my best, most carefree, untroubled days.

This is a good thing.

And for every taste of awfulness, there is some milk and honey added that makes life more palatable and precious. I’ve always been a daredevil (and don’t think for a minute that I don’t know that daredevil and exceedingly stupid aren’t the same thing). Now I feel bold. I feel courageous. I feel comfortable in this weird skin that I’ve squirmed around in all these years. I can’t redo the past. Don’t want to. I want to move forward with grace and impeccable faith in what God intends to do with me.

That nasty little person in the back of my head is hollering, “Good luck with that, God!”

If I’m a bit bawdy, I’m sorry about that. I’ll try and give each post a rating, so that you’ll be warned if earthy Christianity makes you uncomfortable. I’ve stopped giving my husband my written work to read. I can’t stand that face he makes when he wants me to know that I’ve overstepped all boundaries of decent Christian people. I’m not talking about sex or profanity. Just life in all its inglorious wonderfulness. Don’t fear. If it’s really awful, hopefully, I’ll have the good sense to delete it before I publish.

Welcome to jesusfreak2016. I’m curious and excited to see where this goes. You’ll have to help me keep track. One tricky issue in starting a blog during Lent is that I gave up Facebook as the put it down part of my Pick One Up/Put One Down approach to Lent. So you may never even see this post. C’est la vie.

Blessings to believers and non-believers alike. The world is such a fascinating place.

Thanks be to God. And Happy Valentine’s Day!